FP2: Sainz beats Verstappen to top second practice at Monza

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Carlos Sainz edged F1 championship leader Max Verstappen in the second practice at the Italian Grand Prix with his team mate Charles Leclerc taking third in the 60-minute session. F1Technical's Balázs Szabó reports from the Monza paddock.

The second practice session saw the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen dominate the action. On the hard compound, it was Leclerc, who set an eye-catching lap time before Verstappen eclipsed that by just four thousands of a second with Sainz setting a lap time good enough for third place.

The qualifying simulations saw Verstappen record a time of 1m21.807s before the action was red-flagged after Mick Schumacher came to a halt in the middle sector at the halfway mark due to a power unit issue. It meant that several drivers including Leclerc were forced to abort their hot laps, and complete their qualifying simulation on a slightly used set of red-walled tyres.

In the end, Sainz clocked a 1m 21.664s to lead Verstappen by 0.143s, but Leclerc was unable to repeat his first position from the first practice and needed to settle for third place, 0.193s adrift of his team mate.

After struggling for pace in the opening session, Lando Norris managed a P4 in the second practice, only six tenths of a second off Sainz’s benchmark. His team mate Daniel Ricciardo was a further six tenths of a second adrift, occupying P11.

Mercedes presented themselves in a slightly less impressive form in Free Practice 2 with George Russell taking fifth. His team mate Lewis Hamilton, who is set to take a grid pentalty for taking fresh power unit components, ended the session seventh fastest, a place behind Red Bull’s Mexican driver Sergio Perez.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel returned to action after Nyck de Vries got a run in his Aston Martin in FP1, the German driver slotting into 17th ahead of team mate Lance Stroll.

Nicholas Latifi was 19th in the Williams, over a second off the best lap time of his team mate Alexander Albon, who finished the session in a promising tenths place.